 Billikens Top SIUE 4-3 in Walk-Off Fashion
May 13, 2009
SAUGET, Ill. - Saint Louis freshman Lucas Calderon's walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the 10th lifted the Billikens to a 4-3 victory against SIU Edwardsville Wednesday night at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill. SLU, which rallied from an early three-run deficit to post its first extra-inning win of the season, improves to 29-24 overall and extends its winning streak to a season-long six games. The Billikens now set their sights on a big three-game series against Atlantic 10 Conference foe Rhode Island to end the regular season. The first game of the series against the second-place Rams is Thursday at 7 p.m. at The Billiken Sports Center. Saint Louis never led in the game until Calderon's walk-off double. The Billikens trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth before constructing a game-tying rally. Calderon drew a one-out walk, and later stole second. Then, with two outs, sophomore left fielder Cody Cotter doubled to the left-center field gap to plate Calderon and send the game into extra innings. SLU reliever Chaz Salembier quickly retired the Cougars in the top of the 10th before the Billikens won it in the bottom-half of the inning, again doing their damage with two outs. Senior second baseman Tom Pinnell reached on a throwing error by the Cougar shortstop, and advanced to second when junior right fielder Andrew Guerra drew a walk. Pinnell came around to score the winning run on Calderon's rope to the left-center field gap, sealing the Billikens' first win at GCS Ballpark in nine tries. The Bills found themselves in a 3-0 hole after SIUE scored once in the second on a Mike Hurt RBI double, and two more times in the third and a two-run double off the bat of Josh Street.
But the Billikens came back in the bottom of the fourth when Guerra stroked a two-run single through the left side, scoring Danny Brock and Ben Braaten to make it a 3-2 ballgame through four innings of play. That completed the scoring until the bottom of the ninth with the Billikens tied it, eventually leading to the 10th-inning victory. Salembier earned his third win of the season after three innings of scoreless relief. He allowed just two hits and walked one. Also shutting down the Cougars in relief were Garrett Cooper (2.2 innings), Marco Mejia (one inning) and Jerry Mancuso (one inning). |
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